French artist working in Rome, circa 1700

Acquired by the great-grandparents of the present owner during the 1920s;

Thence by to descent to the present owner.

This powerful baroque scene from mythology was almost certainly created by a French artist working in Rome during the early 1700s. Notably, the painting borrows heavily from sculpture of the period.¹ The twisting figure of Marsyas, the satyr who boldly challenged Apollo to a musical contest and lost with dramatic consequences, is taken from Pierre Le Gros the Younger's (1666–1719) sculpture of the same figure.² Le Gros, a Frenchman who came to Rome in 1690, is believed to have completed this sculpture in Italy during the opening decades of the eighteenth-century; it was first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1738. Furthermore, the kneeling figure sharpening his blade in preparation for the gruesome task ahead, is taken from the Knife Grinder (also known as the Scythian), a famous piece of Roman sculpture that is was in the Medici collections (now Uffizi, Florence).³

Although this painting has traditionally been attributed to Charles-André van Loo (1705–1765), its authorship eludes identification. François Marandet has drawn a comparison between it and an academic study of a nude figure drawn by Daniel Sarrabat (1666–1748), a painter from Lyon who studied at the French Academy in Rome during the same period of Le Gros's arrival in the city.⁴ This drawing features very similar and distinctive triangular eyes and the same fascination for musculature that appears in this work.

¹ We are grateful to Alastair Laing and Nicholas Penny for their assistance in identifying the sculptures in this painting.

² For a full history of this sculpture see M. Baker, 'That 'Most Rare Master Monsii Le Gros' and His 'Marsyas'', in The Burlington Magazine, vol. 127, no. 991, 1985, pp. 702–707. ; https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O313079/marsyas-statue-marsyas-legros-pierre-the/

³ Marble, H. 105 cm., 2nd century A.D.; https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/knife-grinder-tribune

⁴ Black chalk on paper, 55 x 41 cm.; Piasa, Paris, 16 June 2016, lot 115, unsold. ; https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/daniel-sarrabat-ii-paris-1666-lyon-1748-academie--115-c-f4b4b9d8a4